Wednesday 15 June 2011

Big Jam Making Day

Close up

    We had a bumper year here for cherries. Many of the luscious fruits  
are still in the tree as they are just too high to pick. We have my washing pole with a hook on the end for shaking boughs and then we have the geese to fight for the droppings. Last year we had a Polecat after the    Mirabels.
They seem surreal to me. So ripe, red and against the greenery in the orchard.  

I bought some plants from the market, 10 tomatoes  of a variety  of kinds. These  pointy ones are doing well.I am watering them every day, often twice. If I miss watering the leaves droop.

My cat with 3 legs. He was found on the roadside a year ago tomorrow. He sits up  in the barn during the day and has an old wooden ladder to climb to get up. In the evenings I try and keep him in. Otherwise he fights other cats and comes home with lots of scratches. He is a little bit of a moaner, with a very loud yowl for a tiny cat. He's fiercely independent with plenty on his mind all day. I tell him he's lucky to live in a farm with a very obliging owner.I don't think he realises quite how lucky he is. 

I've never made jam before.I had a pound of blackcurrants left from the garden so I decided to jam it. Then before the cherries ripened and fell to the ground I jammed some of these too. I had to stone the cherries and hunt for jars sterilise and not really knowing about making jam a bit of research. I'm sure I learnt lots but I don't know if any of my jam has set.

This is the cherry jam, i'm not sure if it's going to be the jammest of jams . I'm sure it will be great  to taste in the lean winter months, maybe on a cake.

I walked up the lane to collect hay for the sheep in winter. A tractor came and cut own some of the verge a few days ago. There are no cars or  spraying here so I am collecting it for winter roughage. This huge redcurrant bush caught my eye. I wonder if anyone will pick the fruit. Blackbirds?

While out I had a peek at a cottage garden.

The cows are by the lake so I am off tomorrow to sketch some to add to my landscapes.

5 comments:

  1. What a very productive day you've had... quiet day for me post treatment. Hope the jam is yummy...

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  2. Hi Jane,
    Lovely photos, sweet painting and a wonderfully lucky cat! I made jam last year from gooseberries from our garden and that went well. My effort on making plum jam was a disaster, as I could not get the jam to set. Apparently with plums you need to cook with skins and stones so that the pectin can come out of the kernels and set the jam…. then strain off the debris later on before potting. You can buy pectin (to help set jam) in packets as well as preserving sugar…. but I bet you know that already. Your life and the place you live in sound idyllic. My toms are also needing lots of water!!!!

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  3. Thankyou Maggie. Jamming tips. I was thinking I missed out on jam making all those years and even joining the local W.I. became more appealing today than it did before.
    I did buy the pectin sugar and left skins on the cherries. The stones took be ages to remove.
    It'll be fine on a scone.
    Not enough rain here.

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  4. Jane, thanks for your visit! That way I found you! What a lovely blog you have. Will come back. Often. //Lisbeth
    PS: lucky cat!

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  5. Make sure any fruit you use isn't too ripe and Making jelly not jam is much less hassle as everything goes in and you just strain at the end... made damson jelly last year was very nice.

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